COMMUNITY representatives will tell a meeting in Bradford that many areas of British society are becoming increasingly affected by the "modern day racism" of Islamophobia.

Dozens of people are expected at the Karmand Community Centre on Barkerend Road to discuss the 'causes and cures' of prejudice against Islam and Muslims.

The meeting tomorrow has been organised by Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND).

The organisation's chief executive Sufyan Ismail, a guest speaker, said it was clear that Islamophobic hate crime was increasing.

He said: "The Met Police in London recently revealed a staggering 70 per cent increase, year on year, in Islamophobic hate crime.

"London is arguably the most cosmopolitan part of the UK - one wonders how bad things are outside of London."

Mr Ismail said he believed that playgrounds were now "happy hunting grounds for Islamophobic bullying".

"In a review of counselling offered to young people during 2012/13, ChildLine found a 69 per cent increase on the previous year in counselling related to racist bullying.

"When the study looked in more detail at what terms where most commonly used as ‘racist’ bullying, their research yielded terms such as ‘suicide bomber’ and ‘terrorist’, among the most commonly used terms."

Mr Ismail said the Government's Prevent programme to tackle extremism had a "fixation with with Islamic ideology and practice rather than looking at more likely causal factors of radicalisation such as foreign policy, Islamophobia, employment discrimination, resistance to ill-conceived counter terror measures etc."

The meeting will look at some of the proposed 'cures' to reduce Islamophobia.

Mr Ismail said media engagement could play a part in celebrating the potential of British Muslims.

"The employment and productivity potential presented by British Muslims is extraordinary.

"Muslims have £20.5 billion in spending power in this country, and at the same time are the most patriotic group of people alongside British Sikhs, considering themselves loyal to the UK, and according to an ISM poll the highest charitable givers with an average of £371 per person.

"In all of this Islamophobia needs to be taken seriously by our elected representatives, statutory institutions, and the media, so that we can collectively address and tackle this form of prejudice and discrimination."

Bradford East Labour MP Imran Hussain, also a guest speaker at the event, said: "Recently we have seen a distinct rise in Islamophobia and Islamophobic attacks across the country.

"We have also seen far-right activity change and focus on Muslims, and organisations on the far-right who are moving away from focusing on race and instead focusing on religion and promoting Islamophobia."

"The great work done by organisations such as MEND and Tell MAMA have clearly highlighted this rising trend and they have run excellent campaigns to combat it.

"We need to do everything to tackle this issue as it is, as with any form of discrimination, unacceptable, and I welcome the Government’s announcement that Islamophobia will also now be treated as its own specific hate crime."